Strahan businesses are fuming after many lost water, internet and phone services on one of the busiest days of the tourism season: New Year’s Eve. The outages caused havoc to hotel booking systems, prevented cashless revellers from buying alcohol and cost the only supermarket in town around $6000 in lost business. Not everyone was affected by the outages, such as those connected to the new NBN network, but several who were have demanded compensation. RELATED: The disruption started on Tuesday morning when a burst water main turned off the taps of around 70 properties at West Strahan. TasWater sent a crew to fix the problem but they unintentionally cut a telecommunications cable during the excavation. Phone and internet services were disrupted until Telstra fixed the optical fibre cable at around 11pm. A TasWater spokesperson said a ‘Dial Before You Dig’ investigation done before the repair crew started digging “identified a communications cable well clear of the proposed excavation zone”. But despite TasWater’s efforts to avoid underground infrastructure, a cable above the water pipe was damaged. “The location of this cable did not show up on the Dial Before You Dig information,” the TasWater spokesperson said. The spokesperson said the excavation compiled with “all protocols”. “TasWater appreciates the patience of both our customers who were without water for a prolonged period and to those residents and visitors whose phone and other communications were impacted,” they said. DISRUPTION FRUSTRATES BUSINESSES Strahan IGA owner Patrick Botha said the outages caused “massive frustration” and a $6000 drop in sales compared to New Year’s Eve 2017. “We were unable to place orders, we were unable to contact anybody outside Strahan and nobody was able to contact us,” he said. “The eftpos machine went down. That meant everybody who came into Strahan who did not have cash on them was unable to purchase anything.” Mr Botha said he let regular customers take groceries and pay later but he couldn’t do the same for tourists wanting to stock up for New Year’s Eve parties. He said several business owners he’d talked to wanted “some sort of compensation for the lost that we’ve suffered”. TasWater said “current practice is not to compensate customers for the loss of supply”. Strahan Holiday Retreat manager Michala Green said the internet and phone outages were “quite painful” and meant she couldn’t accept any future bookings. She was also annoyed at TasWater for not telling her the water would be cut off “One of our housekeepers got told about half an hour after it happened,” she said. “They should’ve told us.” West Coast councillor Leigh Styles said it was unfortunate residents and business lost essential services “for a prolonged period of time on such a busy trading day”. "This incident serves as a reminder of the importance of underground water, sewage and network infrastructure,” he said. “I urge anyone wishing to undertake excavation work to dial before you dig, and to carry out work with care.” Cr Styles commended Telstra for sending a crew to fix the fault “as quickly as they did”. “Customers on the new NBN network were not affected, and the uptake of fixed wireless NBN in Strahan is encouraging,” he said. “Unfortunately, services relying on ADSL technology such as ATMs and eftpos were impacted, greatly affecting the ability for businesses to trade.” With the resumption of services, Cr Styles said he wanted to remind visitors “that Strahan is very much open for business”.

The disruption started on Tuesday morning when a burst water main turned off the taps of around 70 properties at West Strahan.

TasWater sent a crew to fix the problem but they unintentionally cut a telecommunications cable during the excavation.

Phone and internet services were disrupted until Telstra fixed the optical fibre cable at around 11pm.

A TasWater spokesperson said a ‘Dial Before You Dig’ investigation done before the repair crew started digging “identified a communications cable well clear of the proposed excavation zone”.

But despite TasWater’s efforts to avoid underground infrastructure, a cable above the water pipe was damaged.

“The location of this cable did not show up on the Dial Before You Dig information,” the TasWater spokesperson said.

The spokesperson said the excavation compiled with “all protocols”.

“TasWater appreciates the patience of both our customers who were without water for a prolonged period and to those residents and visitors whose phone and other communications were impacted,” they said.

DISRUPTION FRUSTRATES BUSINESSES

Strahan IGA owner Patrick Botha said the outages caused “massive frustration” and a $6000 drop in sales compared to New Year’s Eve 2017.

“We were unable to place orders, we were unable to contact anybody outside Strahan and nobody was able to contact us,” he said.

“The eftpos machine went down. That meant everybody who came into Strahan who did not have cash on them was unable to purchase anything.”

Mr Botha said he let regular customers take groceries and pay later but he couldn’t do the same for tourists wanting to stock up for New Year’s Eve parties.

He said several business owners he’d talked to wanted “some sort of compensation for the lost that we’ve suffered”.

TasWater said “current practice is not to compensate customers for the loss of supply”.

Strahan Holiday Retreat manager Michala Green said the internet and phone outages were “quite painful” and meant she couldn’t accept any future bookings.

She was also annoyed at TasWater for not telling her the water would be cut off

“One of our housekeepers got told about half an hour after it happened,” she said.

“They should’ve told us.”

LESSONS FROM THE INCIDENT

KEY LESSON: West Coast councillor Leigh Styles said it was important for everyone to dial before they dig. Picture: Lachlan Bennett

West Coast councillor Leigh Styles said it was unfortunate residents and business lost essential services “for a prolonged period of time on such a busy trading day”.

"This incident serves as a reminder of the importance of underground water, sewage and network infrastructure,” he said.

“I urge anyone wishing to undertake excavation work to dial before you dig, and to carry out work with care.”

Cr Styles commended Telstra for sending a crew to fix the fault “as quickly as they did”.

“Customers on the new NBN network were not affected, and the uptake of fixed wireless NBN in Strahan is encouraging,” he said.

“Unfortunately, services relying on ADSL technology such as ATMs and eftpos were impacted, greatly affecting the ability for businesses to trade.”

With the resumption of services, Cr Styles said he wanted to remind visitors “that Strahan is very much open for business”.